he said he will appeal the verdict on which he claims is politically motivated. saying it shows the kremlin is running scared. reporter: it's a retrial for russia's main opposition leader.

he's been found guilty in the 2013 case and given a five-year suspended prison sentence for a second time. >> the new verdict and the old verdict are 100% identical, including even the order in which they put out the testimonials. everything was taken from the old verdict. you can come over and see that the judges reading exactly the same text. it's wonderful, and says a lot about the whole trial. putin criticir claims the charges against him are politically motivated and will not be dropping his plans to run in next are's presidential race. there is little chance he will be able to take his big-city appeal beyond moscow and st. petersburg. he rose to prominence five years viewed as the

kremlin's most significant credit. an opposition colleague and friend was murdered two years ago. a --s a case as robert parsons now explains, russian law is ambiguous on whether or not he can run a request there's a bit of ambiguity and russian law. in one place, the russian law says you cannot stand if you and forenced for serious crime at least 10 years after you have been sentenced. those we heard in the package just now. another part of the law says anybody who is not in jail can stand. it really is going to depend clearly on the kremlin. himhe kremlin is happy for to stand, he will be able to stand.

if it doesn't want him to stand, he won't be able to. he is a fighter and is made it clear in the past that he will contest the verdict. he will take it to the russian courts and if he doesn't get satisfaction there, he will take it to the european court of human rights which he has just one in a case before this one. the question i suppose is how far is it going to get him? be able to to continue the campaign in any form whatsoever? at least up until the point where you have to register as a candidate for the presidential election, he will be very active. officehis first campaign open in st. petersburg. another 76will open nationwide. the question is, if he is allowed to go ahead, could he challenge putin? there is no chance he would be

him, but that's not what putin and the kremlin are frightened of. up until now there hasn't been a rallying point for the opposition. when he was led to stand for , he got moscow on 2013 30% of the vote, any campaign primarily on social media. the kremlin was shocked and there's no doubt that if he were to stand again, there's every chance that he could get a lot of support without actually winning in a contest against vladimir putin. laura: british lawmakers are voting for second time on brexit and whether to allow a prime and mr. theresa may to officially begin the process of leaving the european union. mps have party voted overwhelmingly in favor of the bill and tonight they are voting on amendments. among them the fate of the eu nationals or living in the u.k.. oppositionof the labor party, jeremy corbyn, has

told members they must support the bill, but some have vowed to rebel. for theed by writer sunday times in london. tell us a bit more about what exactly the mps are voting for or against tonight. reporter: today is the final day in the comments of the bill which will authorize the government to officially trigger article 50 and then it will go to the lords. it's a series of amendments, each presented by different in peak, that's being voted on. it looks like the numbers are in favor of the government and all the amendments, virtually all the significant amendments will be defeated and therefore the legislation will go to the lords and they will not really feel that they have much ground to -- to drastically change the legislation. laura: so this could become law

as theresa may wants by early next month? >> yes. she would like to trigger article 50 by the end of march. today there has been some debate about labor and the tory rebels, the ones who first thought they had a significant victory over the government because theresa may is now definitely saying that hopefully before even the european parliament gives its deal,vote on the brexit she will presented to the british parliament. but people are wondering in fact it does giver parliament because she's not -- they're making it clear they are not ready to go back and renegotiate should the british parliament reject what they have negotiated. when it isl come close to a final stage in

negotiations and bring it back to the westminster parliament and say this is what we have managed to negotiate, yes or no? there will be heavy pressure to vote yes because the alternative is what people refer to as falling off the edge of live, reverting to conditions on trade, for example, and you fall out of the eu with no deal. it would be very unlikely the mps would vote for that. so they've been given a simple yes or no, for some would prefer to been given more power to tell theresa may to go back and renegotiate. and the government is very strongly resisting that. laura: thank you very much indeed. ande have been celebrations gunfire in somalia following the election of a new president. u.s.-somali citizen and

former prime minister were sworn in after lawmakers voted heavily guarded former aircraft hangar. this was no ordinary election. they chose the president from 23 candidates. here are more details. reporter: somalia new president faces an uphill battle from security to corruption to foreign policy, somalis are hoping serious reform can make the country safer and grow the economy. >> for my part of you, i believe change is needed. it is the country's very bad over the past four years in terms of the economy and security. >> one of the greatest challenges is terrorism. al-shababffiliate attacks and 28 were killed outside a hotel in mogadishu last week. on the eve of the election,

relatives and peacekeepers battle just outside the capital. such is the country's reputation as a hotbed of islamic extremism that somalia is one of the countries whose residents are barred in the united states. a severe drought has pushed nearly 3 million people to the edge of starvation and the united nations said the country is again at risk. corruption is another key concern for ordinary somalis. >> to increase the budget, we are civilians and we need to work for us. >> although wednesday's election was billed as the nation's most democratic in nearly 50 years, reports of votes being sold for as much as $30,000 apiece alarmed observers. critics have any president needs

to prove he is determined to round out corruption and attack al-shabab terrorism. romania's ruling party has arrived a no-confidence vote in parliament. nationwide protests continued and many are calling on the prime minister to resign. romania's biggest show of public unrest in decades was triggered by the government's efforts to ease anticorruption laws. yesterday the president publicly scorned government for lack of transparency. reporter: we've learned our lesson, now let us govern. that's the plea made by romania's ruling party ahead of a no-confidence vote they were sure to survive. >> i promise you that from today onward, this government will be exclusively one of dialogue and consultation on great topics of interest for the whole society. >> a social democrats targeted by the motion of stain from the vote but opposition parties could not push it through. only mustering 161 of the 232

votes needed. the parliamentary debate highlighted the deepening division between the government and the president. each side blames the other for inciting public outrage that seen hundreds of thousands of protesters flood the streets of the capital. >> what the president is trying to do is to make romania over prosperous, more united country. what you are doing is putting romania at risk and can create instability. >> despite repealing the corruption lot that sparked initial demonstrations, thousands of people continued to demonstrate every night. cannoty the government be trusted and are calling for the prime minister to resign. the controversial bill will now be revised and debated before parliament. laura: u.s. president donald trump has accused the american legal system of being political over his travel ban. an appeals court is set to rule on whether to restore travelers

stick -- travel restrictions on people from seven countries after it was blocked last week by a judge in washington state who ruled it unconstitutional. late appeals arguing that only the white house should have the final say on national security. he said he hoped the court would do what is right. >> i don't ever want to call a court biased, so i will not call it highest. we have not had a decision yet. but the courts seem to be so political, and it would be so ifat for our justice system they would be able to read a statement and do what is right. that has to do with the security of our country, which is so important. laura: i'm joined by a law professor at the university of pittsburgh and an expert on the appeals court which is considering donald trump's travel ban. thanks for being with us.

what did you make of the justice department's argument that this ban should be restored? >> i thought the justice department lawyer did not do a with thegood job government's position. he made the arguments, but he seemed to have trouble with many of the questions from the judges. said today that the courts are too political. is there any truth to that? >> there's certainly some political elements. judges have to be appointed by as a political person and they have to be confirmed by the senate, and that's another political process. but once they get on the bench, i think most of them really do try to put politics aside and decide cases in accordance with the law. but they have their inclinations and views as much as anyone, but they tried to put them aside. the former secretary of state john kerry was one the fall for the freeze

on the order in the first place. some think the democrats are trying to go through the legal back door because they don't have a majority in congress. >> i did think it was interesting that the political figures, including john kerry who you mentioned, filed a brief with the court. i'm not sure that was very helpful. it's interesting nobody mentioned it in the arguments yesterday. they want to give the appearance that they are giving way to political arguments from political figures rather than legal arguments from the lawyers. laura: what about donald trump's argument that he is the elected president and he should be the in and decides who comes out of the country on national security grounds? there is certainly some statutory authority for the president to do that, but the statutory authority, the congress and the president are all bound by the cost to ship,

and the state of washington is making some arguments here that the way the president and lamented this travel restriction violated constitutional rights. so the president, even though it has very broad powers to protect national security, has to exercise those powers within the limits of the constitution. laura: we've heard from the appeals court that there will be no decision on that today. how long can this be dragged out for? >> i think they will hand down a decision as quickly as possible. they recognize how important this is, and as long as you have on one hand an executive order which limits travel and a thecial order which says executive order is invalid, there's a great deal of uncertainty. at the same time, they don't want to decide the case until they are pretty sure they've got it right. and they may not want to issue an order until they can explain

it. the state of washing at the arga big point about how important it will take them a littlei's one e case and another to write an opinion explainingct one. laura: are donald trump's attack on the judiciary individual judges just bluster, or are they actually harmful, do you think? actually harmy his own case. i'm not sure he recognizes that. i think there are a couple of arguments that the government longer might have made during the argument yesterday that he refrained from making because it would have looked like an attack on the judge who issued the order and he wants to be very careful not to do that because it would seem to be endorsing the kind of statements that president trump made. he has actually hurt his case by making these

intemperate arguments on judges and not just on judges tem.rally, on particul judge it just doesn't help him at all and it makes the job harder and the government lawyers who are supposed to implement his policies. laura: thank you very much indeed for joining us. have wonfillon may back support of his own party, but polls show he struggling to regain the trust of voters. the conservative candidate has been hit hard by report to use public funds to pay members of his family to do nonexistent jobs while he was prime minister. a police investigation is ongoing. today fillon wrote directly to the public through a letter published in the newspapers. he is launching a counterattack to defend himself. the presidential candidate still

mired in scandal is refusing -- refusing to drop out of the race. he insisted the jobs he paid his family forward not illegal. he published a letter in her french daily apologizing for hiring his wife at the parliamentary assistant, echoing and earlier me a call but in a news conference. the conservative contender was respite, there were fresh claims over his wife's a. his wife received a total of 45,000 euros in severance payments at the end of two contracts. fillon was quick to respond. then in a statement, fillon he claimed the figures were incorrect. despite that, the voices of opposition could still be heard

against the candidate. >> pay back your debt, you'd see f. you thie >> i think he is an honest and and his wife also. it's unfortunate that honest people like these are met by such scandals. isimpression is mr. fillon friend of the other candidates and we have to shatter that in every way. 's this wednesday, fillon campaign continues. this while call returns to the candidates camp, for now. laura: back to our top story, the british parliament has voted in favor of giving promised or theresa may the power to officially begin the process of leaving the european union. this is the second vote in the lower house and the final vote and it will now pass to the scrutiny.ords for

it will either pass into law or be passed back down to the house of commons for more debate. some business news, kate moody is with us. we start in the united states. kate: we had a quote from donald trump a few minutes ago saying, how do you know i'm doing in a good? job? you've never seen so much paper on her presidents desk and four. he said is symbolic of all the deals he has been negotiating for the u.s. economy. there are indeed quite a few papers in front of him. this is that he was meeting with the chief executive of intel, a $7 billion investment to revitalize a factory in arizona. it will create 3000 jobs and produce advanced semiconductor chips for computers and smart cards.

last year intel cut 12,000 jobs as it shifted from personal computers to chips. the timing of the announcement is interesting because intel was one of 127 tech companies that signed a position against the travel ban on people from seven mainly muslim countries. he indicated he was in favor of the new administration's economic policies. take a listen. investment in intel but also the u.s.'s future and innovation and leadership in the semiconductor industry. it's really in support of f tax and regulatory policies that we see the administration pushing forward that really make it advantageous to do manufacturing in the u.s.. kate: international trade will go on the agenda at the next g 20 summit as angela merkel pushes back against the wave of protectionism around the world. the german chancellor said if the trump administration does

not want to push ahead with the free trade zone with your, they will look at asian and latin american partners. she was not counting on american cooperation. take a listen. >> we welcome the issue of free trade hearing germany's 220 meeting. wto and then we can see what the priorities of the u.s. administration, where they live. >> donald trump has indicated he will attend that meeting in july. oil prices have risen slightly this wednesdsday on surprising data shong u.s. gasoline stockpiles have dropped slightly more than expected. that helped wall street pair back some of its earlier losses. the nasdaq up slightly as apple

traits near record highs and intel shares rising only slightly this session. europe meeting with gains of a -- .25% earlier. the greek finance minister has rejected the latest assessment of its finances in the international monetary fund. saying the -- it does not take account of government reforms implplemented in t the last two years. it t could reach h explosive levels by 2020. finance minister said that you is misleading and overly pessimistic. the imf's at loggerheads over the issue of reducing the debt burden. its ability ton exit its bailout program successfully next year. the french government has been accused of wasting huge amounts of money on a failed environmental initiative.

has abandoned the so-called echo taxa. two years ago, but is back in the headlines as top auditors call it a reckless waste of public funds and manpower. >> they may be standing firmly in place, but it's unlikely the radar will ever serve the intended purpose. according to the public auditor, they have been a waste of state finances set to cost france a billion euros, and possibly even more. >> it's a billion minimum and there are still questions whether that could rise. >> in 2009, the government voted to set up automatic radars meant tolls on the national highway. but violent proteststs forced te government to buckle under pressure. which i now suspicion -- suspension. >> your slater, some in france regret the government's decision.

>> we need to make choices and on them. >> is meant to bring in money, and it's brought nothing. >> the income tax would have brought in 10 billion euros over a decade to the french state. but with the decision to scrap the plan and diesel prices were made higher instead. close to 200 staff were shown the door. x saying automation and artificial intelligence will kill 5 million jobs by 2020. it's something that affects nearly every industry. the french companies going a different route, using robots to expand business and create hundreds of new jobs. >> tucked in this valley in eastern france, the manufacturer had their first factory here 60 years ago. a second, third, and fourth, have seen the light of day. to stay competitive they are now

investing in robots. this one replaced 30 workers. now takes the company just 12 hours to build a customized kitchen that used to take seven days. robots have not killed jobs, they have done just the opposite. the expansion has tripled the workforce to 1500 employees. with around 100 new skilled workers brought in every year. this technology engineer is one of the new hires. we've reached a technical level in technology that is quite impressive. it's not everyday that we get to work with machines like this. robots take over, less qualified workers are being retrained. robot coming weeks, a will move this forward, and he will be controlling it. >> it's good for us, for our

health and all that. >> strategic choices made by the granddaughter of the founder. >> we have to automate for economic reavp

02/08/17 02/08/17 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> are you arguing the president's decision is unreviewable? -- yes. amy: the ninth u.s. circuit court of appeals hears arguments in whether to restore president trump's executive order banning people from seven majority muslim nations from entering the united states. while the government has tron's